Russia's military budget is more than twice as large as Ukraine's in 2024. Support from international partners is crucial: Sergii Marchenko for Corriere della Sera

In an interview with the Italian media Corriere della Sera, Minister of Finance of Ukraine Sergii Marchenko spoke about Ukraine's financing needs for 2024 and the importance of maintaining support for Ukraine from international partners.

Key points from the interview: 

The support of the United States is crucial for Ukraine. That's why we hope that the US administration will find a solution to preserve it. The war is still ongoing, and we need aid to succeed

Ukraine's budget for the military campaign in 2024 is USD 40.7 billion, while rrussia's is USD 115 billion, more than 2.5 times higher. We are allocating all State Budget revenues and domestic borrowings to finance the military campaign. Without the support of our international partners, we would have had to significantly reduce non-military spending. 

The share of military expenditures is over 50% of the total budget and about 21% of GDP in 2024. Our financial needs for external assistance in 2024 amount to USD 41 billion.

This is in the West's interest to support Ukraine in order to protect all other countries from the spread of the russian imperialist disease. If Ukraine fails, russia may attack other countries.

I am grateful to the European Commission for the proposal to launch the Ukraine Facility for 2024-2027 in the amount of EUR 50 billion. We expect this mechanism to be launched in the coming months.

The reason for what is happening in the Middle East is also due to the international community's insufficient response to russia's war against Ukraine. If we had enough assistance to win in 2022, we could have avoided this situation in the Middle East.